After a one-hour drive from Kofu we arrived to Koryuji Temple. I really enjoyed just sitting in the car and watching the beautiful scenery and all the blooming flowers. It feels good to sometimes just drive somewhere far away.
At Koryuji Temple we actually went to see a jazz live. I don’t usually listen to jazz at all, so this was something new to me. But I really enjoyed it! It had this artistic feel to it, as if someone was painting an artwork but with music.
After the live we drove to Kobuchisawa, where I read out loud a book in Finnish to the audience. We also talked about Finland in general, and I taught some easy Finnish expressions. I had a good day! I’m glad I got to experience many kind of new things.
I’m happy I had a chance to write this hiking blog! I got to go to many places I wouldn’t usually go, and I got to try out writing a diary. I also learned to enjoy taking pictures when I go to new places. Thank you all for reading my hiking blogs! I hope to meet again someday at AIRY!
This time we went hiking to Daizokyojiyama from Isawaonsen. 15 degrees and sunny was perfect weather for hiking☀️ I think this might have been my favorite hike in Japan so far!
As it’s spring, I could see lots of flowers during the hike. Cherry trees are starting to bloom, and there was some even in the mountain🌸 Near Izawa Onsen Station there were magnolias, and in the mountain there were also these little yellow flowers as in the picture.
On the top of the mountain the forest reminded me of Finnish forests. I really love the smell of nature🌿 We also found this miniature version of a temple (?).
The hike took about 3 hours altogether, and I think it had just the right amount of challenge to give that good feeling after exercising. I really want to come back here once the nature turns green!
The hike of last Saturday was probably the most beautiful out of our hikes so far! The wind next to the lake was a bit cold, but with enough clothes you’ll be fine. This hike was a little longer than previous ones, but it was quite an easy road so 3 hours passed without any problems.
What I liked the most about this hike was Shiroyama (white mountain) with its white sand. From the top of the mountain you could also see Yamanashi and the lake, so the sceneries were very pretty 🏞
戻ったら湖の近くに歩いたらフィンランドの湖を思い出して気持ちよかった。日本で湖やっぱり珍しいよね。
On the way back we walked near this lake, which reminded me of all the lakes in Finland and it felt relaxing. Finding a lake in Japan truly is rare!
This time we walked 30 minutes from Kōfu Station to Yuki Zoo. The weather was perfect, so a relaxed city walk felt good. For me as a Finn, 18 degrees and sun is basically a summer weather☀️
Of course seeing happy and cute animals made me happy, but that wasn’t the case most of the time. Looking at animals put to way too small cages, I could’t help but hate humans. We really shouldn’t take anything we want just because we can.
The most heartbreaking was the swan there. The cage was way too small for it, and all we saw was it trying to hopelessly get out, but ending up just staring at the river right next to the cage. As I’m used to seeing swans in my summer cottage where they live in the nature with their families and swim on the lake, looking at this made me so sad. I just wanted to help it but I couldn’t.
I was happy to see even the cute penguins looking happy. However, I can’t suggest this zoo to anyone. If a zoo doesn’t think about the animals’ well-being, I think we shouldn’t support anything like that.
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2021.02.07 ⛰AIRY→山梨県立美術館
今回はハイキングの替わりに少し散歩してきました！天気がちょうどよくて散歩にピッタリでした🌞
AIRYから出発して、45分ぐらい山梨県立美術館まで歩きました。This time instead of hiking, we took a little walk. We started from AIRY and artived to the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art in about 45 minutes. The weather was perfect for a walk, 15 degrees and sunny🌞
I liked especially this little road and cherry trees you can see on the pictures. It was very quiet there, and it was pretty even if the cherry trees aren’t blooming yet. I definitely want to see this place when the cherry trees bloom! Once I saw the river, I felt like it’s like Yamanashi’s Meguro river 🌸
At the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art we took part in a workshop of an artwork there called Tables. I had a chance to hand-sew something I would not usually make.
桜の季節になったら絶対もう一度この道を歩きたい！
Once the hanami season starts I really want to take a walk here again!
This time we went hiking to Yumurayama! There are various routes to choose from, also very long ones, but we went for this one to Azumaya that was a little difficult but last only one hour there and back. We climbed up in the forest, and chose this easier path on the way back. It was pretty windy that day, but it was sunny and it got warm as soon as we climbed a little ☀️
We had these two cute guides for the hike, which made it a lot more fun. Looking at the two run up the hill all excited made me want to climb up faster too 🥾
I think in Yamanashi, no matter where you go for a hike, you will always be rewarded with a beautiful landscape when you reach the top. Today we saw again the beautiful view of Yamanashi, the surrounding mountains and Mt. Fuji. As the route today was pretty steep, it really felt like a good refreshing exercise!
This time we went hiking from Katsunumabudokyo Station 🍇 After about a 30 minute walk, there was a cute market that is held once a month. This time we did our hike in an unusual order – first we walked down the hill, and on the way back climbed up.
There were many kinds of food and handmade items sold at the market. The candy in the picture is a famous handmade caramel that sold out quickly also this day 🍬
As a hike, this one was like a combination of hiking and a city trip. At the market you can get inspiration from the grape tunnel and the handmade items, and near the station there was a beautiful little bamboo forest that looked like a real-life painting 🎍
朝市とハイキングのコンビネーションの小さな旅をしてみたい方におすすめです！
I recommend this hike for everyone who wish to try a city-like hike and make a little trip at the same time!
On Sunday, we went for a little hike near Kōfu Station. I hadn’t tried hiking in Yamanashi before, so I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was nice that the route started right next to Kōfu Station and the weather was good. Sunny and 4 degrees – perfect for a Finn though someone might find it a bit chilly. What I was surprised about was that we found a plum tree blooming even if it’s only January!
I think this hike is good for people who aren’t used to hiking or would like to try it. It takes only about 30 minutes to reach the top, so you’re not too tired at the end and get the feeling you could try hiking also another time. Even if it’s a small hike, you’re rewarded with a beautiful scenery of Yamanashi and the surrounding mountains. Yamanashi looked beautiful on a sunny day, as if it was sparkling.
Because of corona, I think many of us have ended up staying at home a lot. To feel refreshed and get inspiration, I think a hike like this is such a good and easy way to safely enjoy outdoors!
The exhibited works are not the only works, and I think that human beings have lives before they make art, and their daily lives are full of creativity. I am very interested in what kind of moment the artist will be inspired by the life. I’m interested in artist-in-residence because I find the process of creating work interesting. And it may not be enough from the length of stay this time what kind of place Kofu is, where the inspiration is studded, but I hope I can get to know even a little.
This project can be called as interactive mobile drawing project. Ideally, the canvas goes to many spaces in the city and people paint or draw on the canvas. There is no rule for putting color. Painting over Gaku Okata’s drawing is what this project wants. In this corona pandemic, we easily become anxious. If this project distract people’s mind from anxiety for a bit, it would be great.
The monster’s mind is full of anxiety and fear. Circle of negativity doesn’t stop. The wings of the monster is connected to its mind so it cannot fly. It decided to go on a journey to find something that can calm its mind. As it thought, the world was messed up. Many things happen simultaneously. Emotions of people and things are everywhere around. It is so hard to find out which emotion is whose, and who feels what. Candy is what the monster is looking for. It always makes it feels better. It found candy and put in the mouth. It was subtly sweet and distract the monster from chaos of its mind. The wings are recovered. The monster decided to fly a little.
無観客ライブペイント by Gaku Okata大方 岳 ５月２０日＠AIRY５月２１日＠AIRY５月２２日＠AIRY①５月２３日＠AIRY②５月２５日＠荒川河川敷
I have been working with drawing and cut paper since almost ten years. It is the aim of my work to create small universes with paper, exploring fiction as a path for expressing the complex nuances of our daily situations. Using different elements for inspiration like plants, animals, and everyday objects, and mixing them into something new, using the infinite possibilities of drawing. At the beginning of my career I used just paper in all their multiplicity, but now I add to my work different objects like lightbulbs, wires and little doll hands. In every single piece I look forward to find a special conjunction of elements and characters.
For this one month art residency in Japan I would like to work with the third volume of the Hokusai manga “Fanciful, mythical and supernatural”, redrawing some of that characters of Japanese mythology and take pictures of them as if they where living in modern Kofu.
My artistic work often relates with the uncommon. It pursues a longing for going out of the daily routine in which we are immersed. Taking the uncommon as a base, early in my work, I explored the concepts of alienation and the anomalous in the human race, and the consequences and repercussions of being considered different within the society. Later I became interested in the ideas of calm and contemplation, both Buddhist concepts studied in the path of illumination. In my investigation I found the metaphor of the calm of the sea, this is the word the seaman use to refer to the complete stillness in the waters. Continuing with my research, always attracted to the uncommon, I landed in the notion of introspection and solitude, how the humans can feel alone even when they are in crowds and how can they with daydreaming create their own worlds or even meditate in odd situations.
I’m interested in how introspection can be used as a form of meditation. I have explored these themes in my last works but I want to continue to evolve the investigation bringing it to a Japanese context. I have been always drawn to Japanese culture; I want to explore the concept of introspection applied to the Japanese everyday life.
I find Kofu, Yamanashi, the perfect place to immerse myself into the everyday life and compare my Latin roots with this very different environment. The fact that Kofu is not a big cosmopolitan city makes this an even richer experience. The techniques I use more commonly in my work are photography and drawing, I plan to use both to capture the essence of the everyday life viewed through my foreigner eyes.
Many of my interests and
curiosities lean towards the quiet, the tactile, sensations and the internal
shifts that happen within us and around us.
I often wonder how these elements can create possibility, space and
bring us closer to ourselves, to others, truth and nature. I has been seen to performing in
unconventional venues utilizing sensory stimulant and/or deprivation techniques
and have been seen ripping open grapefruits, releasing ladybugs and inviting
audience members to walk with their eyes closed in gardens, busy city streets
or quiet corners.
Most
recently, I have found myself unpacking family history and investigating home,
identity, memory, travel, migration, immigration, displacement, belonging,
guilt, shame and what it means to be an Asian American woman…which ultimately
has meant, looking deeply at myself through the lens of my mother, my father
and animals. Through these
investigations I have weaved various mediums: performance, storytelling,
film/video, animation and installation to attempt to tell this story.
